


empty infinity

by spideywhiteys



Series: 365 Days of Naruto AUs [21]
Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Astronaut AU, F/M, am i the only one in this tag? wow, are they serious? are they joking? who knows, as usual lmao, darui is an...odd good friend?, mei thinks she's getting too old, ship is mostly hinted bc it's vague, space
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-21
Updated: 2021-01-21
Packaged: 2021-03-13 15:48:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 876
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28905891
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/spideywhiteys/pseuds/spideywhiteys
Summary: Mei wonders if chasing her job has held her back from the life everyone else has. Darui doesn't particularly care about such things, but maybe that's why they get each other.
Relationships: Terumi Mei/Darui
Series: 365 Days of Naruto AUs [21]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2086938
Comments: 1
Kudos: 3





	empty infinity

**Author's Note:**

> Day 21: Astronaut AU / Mei + Darui

The moon is prettier up close. Mei floats among the stars, entombed in a piece of machinery that, should it be penetrated by a single crack, will spell her early —  _ young _ — demise. Oddly enough, she feels no fear. Space is silent, not a single decibel existing in the infinite vacuum. The only noise is what they create, here in their padded shuttle. 

Mei misses the sounds of earth, the sounds of her friends and life. But she loves the view up here, loves the way she can float and feel weightless, feel like a bird in flight. She reaches for the sky and lands among the stars.

She presses her fingertips to the window, to the view of endless black and a single blue and green planet. The reinforced glass is cold to the touch, a mere sample of the icy existence outside this protective shell. If there is one thing Mei doesn’t care for in space, it’s the chill. She is a creature meant for heat, born in a summery town just miles from a volcano. She’d used hot springs as swimming pools, spent winters wondering what snow actually looked like.

The hatch opens. Her sanctuary is invaded by another — one sporting thick white curls and drooping eyes, skin the color of a hershey’s kiss. The man of eternal apologies that spill like a reflex from his mouth.

Darui blinks at her. “Sorry.” He says, perhaps realizing he’s just interrupted a personal moment. Or perhaps it’s just his nature. “You know your shift ended an hour ago.”

She raises an immaculate brow, smile playing on her lips. “I know. Were you looking for me?”

The man shrugs, floating fully into the little room awash with earth-light. “You’re the one in charge, boss. Wouldn’t do for morale if you worked yourself to exhaustion.”

Mei glances back to her window to the stars. Her hair surrounds her like a shroud, a writhing curtain of auburn in zero gravity — creating the illusion that she is bigger, larger,  _ more _ than she is. It shifts with every movement she makes.

“How sweet of you to check in.” She teases, sanguine mouth, heart and hair.

Darui grunts and shrugs, content to let himself float with no destination. He’s always been a bit like that. Never wanting to put in effort but always doing so where it counts — when it’s needed. He’s the type to jump in at the first sign of trouble and complain the whole time. No matter how much he gripes, he was not meant for the dull life he speaks of. 

Otherwise he would not be here, in the emptiness of infinity. 

He would not be here, floating beside her. A silent sentinel toeing the line of interference. He does not speak first but rather is content to wait for her, to wait for anyone he cares for. (She does like that in a man.)

They exist out of conventional time in this moment. It is both day and night and not, and maybe that’s why her thoughts border on existential. To look into the pitch black void is to come away with something new, and to leave with something taken.

“What would you be doing if you weren’t here?”

He hums, “Sorry, I don’t know. Don’t really think about it.”

“Too much effort for you?” She surmises, the hint of a taunt behind her words. “Well I’d be married by now. I’d have settled down with a man. We’d be in one of those nice houses, with a high fence and a fancy balcony. Maybe even three stories because you can never have too many bedrooms. A couple kids, maybe.”

Thirty-one feels so old. 

It feels like she’s running out of time. It feels like she’s chased her dreams so far into the stratosphere that she’s left reality behind, far below on earth. The time to find a man, buy a house and have kids — it gets shorter and shorter as her body’s clock ticks away. 

Mei loves being an astronaut. She loves space, even when it’s chilly and even when a sea of star-speckled black becomes too much to bear.

“Human lives are so short,” she murmurs. Her fingernails tap against glass. 

Darui is half upside-down at this point, letting himself spin whichever way gravity wants. He scratches the back of his neck as he ponders her words. 

“You still have time. It’s not like you’re old or anything.” The man himself is only a few years shy of thirty himself. They’re both fully grown adults here, at the turning point in their lives where societal pressures feel so heavy — heavier than the suddenness of gravity will be on their return.

Mei laughs.

“Oh? You think so?” She flutters her lashes in a coy manner, “Interested in getting married, then?”

Darui huffs, tongue clicking against the roof of his mouth. “I think there’s a few steps we’d be skipping.” He replies.

But it’s not a no, even if it’s a joke. It’s not a no.

They exist out of time here. They can say anything, the two of them. Anything at all and it won’t feel real even if it is. That’s for them to figure out.

“Maybe it’s not so hopeless after all.” Mei muses.

**Author's Note:**

> Follow / Support me on [Tumblr](https://spideyfoof.tumblr.com/) and let me know if you'd like to see more of this AU!


End file.
